Israel and PA to resume agricultural cooperation after 13-year hiatus

The Israeli and Palestinian Agriculture Ministries agreed on Saturday night to revive some of the joint committees formed in the 1990s under the Oslo Accords, which were frozen 13 years ago with the onset of the second intifada.

The ministries also decided to join forces in establishing a regional center for agronomic cooperation.

The increased cooperation comes amid the renewed peace process and was announced as US Secretary of State John Kerry made a brief visit to Israel on Sunday.

According to the Israeli Agriculture Ministry, the decision to establish the center occurred during a meeting on Saturday night between Rammi Cohen and Adbullah Lahlou, directors-general of the Israeli and Palestinian Authority ministries, respectively.

Aiming to renew the cooperative relationship in the agricultural sector, the discussions focused on the desire to improve food quality for the Palestinian public. Because agricultural disease and pests know no borders, enhancing agriculture on the Palestinian side would likewise lead to improvements on the Israeli side, according to the Israeli ministry.

To achieve such growth, Palestinian farmers will need to learn to make better use of minimal – and often saline – water resources. To this end, the Israeli Agriculture Ministry will conduct a seminar with West Bank farmers at the end of October to teach them how to make use of some of the new water technologies available, Moaddi explained.

The PA exports roughly 80,000 to 100,000 tons of agricultural products annually to Israel, Moaddi said, noting that these figures include products coming from Palestinian farms in the entire West Bank – Areas A (under full PA control), B (PA civil and Israeli security control) and C (full Israeli control).

15/9/13 The Jerusalem Post